Well, Boba Fett got his own show, played by Temuera Morrison, a spin-off from the tons of fun The Mandalorian. Can this series be as much fun as its parent show?

Boba Fett, at the end of the second season of The Mandalorian, took over Jabba the Hutt’s old territory on Tattooine with assassin Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) as his right hand and top advisor. Morrison’s Fett made a strong impression in his Mandalorian appearances. Creator Jon Favreau has a good track record there, and the premise at least is intriguing: how Boba Fett survived the Sarlaac Pit, was eventually rescued by Tusken Raiders, and his attempts to become a new kind of crime lord just as other, powerful rivals are looking to take over Jabba’s turf, most notably the Pyke Syndicate. Surely this should be a lot of fun given the track record of many of the people involved behind the scenes, including Star Wars animation guide Dave Filoni and experienced action movie director Robert Rodriguez.

And yet, it doesn’t quite work. There’s a lot the series does to make things better. The Tuskens are given real personality beyond the xenophobic killers they have always been depicted as. Black Krrsantan, a powerful Wookiee bounty hunter from various Star Wars comics, makes his live action debut as a supporting figure, as does one figure from various animated series late in the season. Ming-Na Wen is awesome as always. Fans of various extended universe Star Wars material are bound to find plenty of connections. And Rodruiguez, helming the finale, does know his way around a gunfight as this series, even more than The Mandalorian, gives off strong Western vibes.

I suspect the problem is Boba Fett himself. It is admirable for the series to try to make him a more well-rounded character, and Morrison is not the problem. The problem is Boba Fett has basically just been imagined as some sort of badass, and seeing him try to become a different kind of crime lord, one that uses respect over fear and doing his best to be nonviolent and reasonable when he can isn’t what he has ever been before. Unfortunately, he just doesn’t come across as very interesting. It says quite a bit that the series seems to hit a high point when Pedro Pascal’s Mandalorian returns, appearing more in two episodes in a row than Boba Fett himself, and in a series titled The Book of Boba Fett, no less. It does make sense. I doubt Disney would allow the protagonist of a series set in a very black-and-white universe to be some sort of anti-hero at best. He has to, well, good. But what does good mean for a character with so little evidence of being good at all based on his past experiences?

Should I be surprised? I suspect any attempt to make Boba Fett anything more than the quiet killer would be difficult, but I further suspect that Star Wars itself is fairly resistant to anything like nuance. As such, The Book of Boba Fett seems more inclined towards reminding people of other cool stuff from different Star Wars stories. Rancors, Tuskens, returning actors, and a host of other things are all present, but it doesn’t quite add up to much. I can give the show a lot of credit for giving a pair of older actors the leads in an action series as well as giving a more nuanced portrayal to indigenous peoples in the form of the Tuskens. But as a narrative, it’s less compelling. That said, I hope that, like The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett becomes more of what it could be once it becomes more clear what this show is perhaps trying to be.

Grade: C+

Part of it was, set as the show is not long after Return of the Jedi, neither Mando, as he’s known, or the other Mandalorians know much about the Jedi, the Child’s people. Season two tells the story of Mando’s quest to even find a Jedi.

Running as it does over eight episodes, many of which are stand-alone adventures, season two of The Mandalorian did something that will be important, if not for this show, than for Disney+’s efforts to create more Star Wars on the small screen. If season one was to establish the character of the Mandalorian and his path, The Way, then season two was to expand the universe of the Mandalorian and connect it to the greater Star Wars universe. Much was made of Rosario Dawson’s casting as Ashoka Tano, but she isn’t the only one. I won’t really say which ones because if you’re reading this you either A) already know or B) you haven’t seen it and the surprises are part of the fun.

However, connecting to existing characters from various movies and animated series is one thing, but The Mandalorian also remembers where it came from, bringing back characters from season one that make for a more satisfying setting and story. We may not need Bill Burr’s sharpshooting Migs Mayfield in every episode, but writer/producer Jon Favreau know just how much he needs a character like that for.

Besides, Pascal as an actor can get so much across with just his voice since the character often keeps his helmet on.

The end result is a season that seems to wrap up the first storyarc involving the Child in an epic and exciting way. I found The Mandalorian‘s first season to be fine popcorn TV, not particularly deep but generally exciting, and while season two is still basically popcorn TV, it’s a lot more exciting and seems to have learned from whatever it did in season one to make for even better television. We may never know exactly what makes Din Djarin tick, but time spent with him is always welcome. And, quite frankly, if this show is meant to be something of a springboard for more Star Wars on TV, then they picked a good one to go with.

Grade: A

After finishing the first season of The Mandalorian, I don’t know that Disney can do right by Star Wars any more than I did before, but this was some mostly solid television.

That said, Mandalorian is far from perfect, and being good isn’t the same as being great. What The Mandalorian does well, it does very well. But there was something to the show that I felt was missing. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but there was something to the show that kept it from being something I looked forward to week after week. I would watch them whenever a new episode dropped, but it never felt truly like appointment television. Truth be told, I tended to look more forward to new episodes of DC Universe’s animated Harley Quinn series which often dropped the same day.

Besides, for all the show was called The Mandalorian, we all know who the true star of the show was.

Yes, the mysterious child known colloquially as “Baby Yoda” despite the fact said baby is probably not named Yoda. Heck, the series never even seemed to get around to revealing the Child’s gender. Still, it’s an incredibly impressive puppet, and series creator Jon Favreau and the various directors who worked on individual episodes deserve a lot of props for making the puppet a true character.

But the main problem with The Mandalorian was the more episodic style of storytelling that suggested, particularly with the episode titles, that this was intended as one long story with individual chapters. It doesn’t quite play that way. And given how much Pedro Pascal’s “Mando” was inclined to stay silent, I was left with a feeling for most of the series that he was little better than a generic good guy. The last episode or two made up for that, finally putting a name and face onto what appears to be the Mandalorian’s major enemy going forward. With a second season already announced, we should learn more about the mystery Child, but so far, the kid’s still a blank.

All that being said, there’s a lot here to like for the Star Wars fan. Favreau uses a lot of the common sights of that universe, and the series feels like it could take place in a galaxy far, far away, but not in the same somewhat empty nostalgic way JJ Abrams did with Rise of Skywalker. The action scenes, which are frequent, are often well-executed, and many of the plots are clever. Mando may be assisting with a jailbreak or defending a farm village from some raiders with old Imperial tech, and it’s all fun but not much beyond that.

I will be along for season two, and I expect the series to be a lot of fun with great production design, but still feel something like empty calories. That’s fine, but it seems that defines the best Disney can do with Star Wars.

Though if we get more stuff like the bickering speeder bike troopers from the start of episode eight, I may change my mind on that.

Grade: B

That said, yes, I did watch the first episode of The Mandalorian. And the show was both familiar and different enough to hold my interest for now.

On the familiar front is the general look of, oh, everything. Many of the alien species and languages that appear on the show are ones I have seen or heard before. The technology the characters use is familiar. The architecture on the unnamed desert planet looks familiar. And even if we don’t see a character we know from any of the movies, we see characters that could easily exist in that world.

On the different end of things is the overall tone of the episode. It feels darker, something I am somewhat hoping to see more of in the Star Wars universe. It’s not that I want a R-rated Star Wars. Far from it. Star Wars was always meant to be family friendly. But something that is a little less good guys vs bad guys would be nice. Rogue One feinted in that direction at first before going to straight good vs. evil for the final battle. But The Mandalorian looks like it could show the less reputable side of the Star Wars universe without sacrificing too much to keep it from being OK for kids. While the as-yet unnamed title character played by Pedro Pascal may be modeled after Clint Eastwood’s Man With No Name, he doesn’t come across as evil so much as a man with a job to do and he’s going to do it no matter what.

That said, this first episode clocks in at just under 40 minutes. Much of the plot seems to be about showcasing how badass this Mandalorian is. We see him collect one bounty and then go off to collect another. The first one demonstrates his overall competence at his job while displaying his general methods. The second sets up the plot and gives us maybe the briefest glimpse into what kind of a man he is. That will depend entirely on what he ends up doing with his latest bounty.

Beyond that, we have a decent set-up even if there still isn’t much indication on what this character wants. He keeps his helmet on, speaks as little as possible, and does his job. That means taking a big potential payday from an unnamed Client (Werner Herzog), taking riding lessons from an alien moisture farmer (Nick Nolte), and then teaming up with a very blunt (though humorously so) droid bounty hunter (Taika Waititi).

By the by, hearing Nolte’s voice just reminded me of comedian Patton Oswalt’s routine about how Nolte was almost cast as Han Solo. And if you are the type of person who thinks original recipe Star Wars was all about the black-and-white, Han Solo’s whole arc over the original trilogy would probably beg to differ.

Anyway, not a bad first episode, even if there wasn’t much to it. I’ll probably have more to say when the season ends.

Grade: B